Posts Tagged ‘Get a record deal’

How do I find a music manager?  How do I find a booking agent?  I just need to find someone to get my music to the next level.  I’ve heard these questions and statements before and fifteen or so years ago I sounded exactly like this.  As it turns out I wound up on the industry side of the fence and traded in the crowded smelly van for a record company desk job but I do have some answers for you.  If you showed up here via Google search chances are you won’t like what I am going to tell you but I implore you to keep reading.

Let’s start at the very beginning – do you have anything to manage?

I know – sounds like a stupid question, but is it?  I’m not asking you if you have lots of work that you could use help with, nor am I making light of the pure volume of work that is the creation of both recorded and live music.  What I am asking you is do you have something ready to bring to market that needs managing or are you still building out your product?

There is no shame (I’ll repeat it again) NO SHAME in being in the developmental phases of your career.  We live in an instant gratification kind of world, which is why when I write articles like this I know statistically that a majority of people won’t have made it this far because they were looking for a “get famous now” button.  Take your time and develop your product – this will help you rise above the MILLIONS of other people who went out to guitar center purchased their first instrument and recording gear and had the first song they ever wrote up on MySpace the next day hoping for some kind of miracle won’t ever come.

Back to management – let’s talk about what you should have together before even considering approaching someone to invest in your career.  *** Notice I said invest because whether or not they spend a dime on you management is an enormous expenditure of someone’s time***

Before approaching anyone to manage you- have most of these together:

1. No apology recordings of your music
2. Professional looking photos of you or your group
3. A basic – findable website (custom URL) you can update yourself
4. A Mailing list and a place where people can sign up on said list
5. A social network presence (twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube)
6. Live performance footage (preferably in front of a crowd)
7. A well written bio highlighting your accomplishments

These are the building blocks and the marketing materials you will use over and over and over again.  There are no words, no email sales pitch and probably not even naked photos of an executive in compromising positions that will get you taken more seriously than having the items above in place.  Many of these items can get pricey so do your homework and shop around if you feel that any of these items are best done by work for hire.  Having these materials will get your more gigs, will get you taken more seriously by your peers and potential fans and ultimately (if you have a product people want) will help you build a business in music.

“Okay – wait – isn’t this super basic?  Does he think we are Idiots?”

No, absolutely not. But I can tell you that statistically aspiring musicians are looking at the wrong things to get ahead.  Check out what people search for online for music related terms according to a Google AdWords querry in June 2010:

Term: “Get My Music Heard Online”

Global Monthly Searches:  > 10

Term: “Get more people to my shows”

Global Monthly Searches:  > 10

Term: “Make a Living In Music”

Global Monthly Searches: 46

Term: “Marketing My Music”

Global Monthly Searches: 110

Term: “Get a Music Manager”

Global Monthly Searches: 590

Term:  “How to Get A Record Deal”

Global Monthly Searches: 18,100

Draw your own conclusions but I think too many people are looking for a shortcut to fame that barring an act of God or Justin Bieber just doesn’t exist.

I will be back with the subsequent portion(s) of this increasingly poorly named article early next week and I will actually get up to the part where you approach someone and what you should discuss.

In the meantime do a search under “manager”  in the search bar at the top right of the blog – There will be lots of fun interviews with very experienced music managers.

…Or continue to part 2 now.

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JJ Appleton is a successful singer / songwriter, producer and session player and has had a great deal of success getting his music placed and licensed.  JJ was signed to Universal records out of the UK several years ago and has toured extensively in the US and abroad.  For the majority of his career, he’s done these things completely on his own.

MUSICIAN COACHING:

Bring me back to the very beginning and tell me the things you did in your first band to build a following that worked and the things you saw them try that didn’t.

JJA: I’m definitely dating myself a little bit, because in my first band I was really young – I was 16.  But there wasn’t really any Internet.  E-mail was just sort of rearing its head. It was a lot of more in-person sort of promotion, which still works, and I’ve done a lot of this in bands over the years even when the Internet was really prevalent.  I just think if you’re going to other bands’ shows and you’re meeting people and letting people what you’re doing and when you’re playing, people will be curious when they’ve met you, and they’re going to want to know what your music is about.

MUSICIAN COACHING: So even today, you’re saying nothing really replaces that human connection?

JJA: I’ll give you an example.  Let’s say I go to my Myspace page, and I have 50 bands that have added me that day.  I decide what bands I’m going to band based on whether I like their name.  I don’t listen to them.  It doesn’t work.  There’s a glut.  So, in person definitely makes a difference.  It helps to have an outgoing personality, and there’s the fine line between saying, “Hey, come check out my band” and being a used car salesman about it.

MUSICIAN COACHING: How do you walk that line gracefully?

JJA: How do you walk that line?  I think especially with rock and roll and anything that has a little more of an organic feel, people can kind of smell it if you’re putting it on.  There’s a way of just turning people onto your music that’s about you being confident, positive and upbeat, but at the same time maybe being cocky is too far in the other direction, saying, “We’re the greatest band in the world.” I don’t know who’s going to buy that, especially these days.

MUSICIAN COACHING: Have you found that there are just endless amounts of bands, more so now than in years past?

JJA: Maybe there are or there aren’t, but we certainly see a lot more because of the Internet.  Unfortunately their shelf life in our minds is nanoseconds, unless you happen to listen and you really like them.  In my experiences, the combination of in-person promotion, touring, Internet, they all work very well together.  If you’re missing a piece of those – not touring, etc., not going to other people’s shows – it’s going to be a little harder.  But if you’re doing all three, you can generate a little buzz.  There’s no question about it, with some elbow grease.

MUSICIAN COACHING: You’ve done a fair amount of regional if not national touring.  How did you first go about making those connections to even leave your home city?

JJA: For me it was colleges.  I had friends who were going to school somewhere – maybe upstate New York, maybe New England – and they would tell me about being in a frat or they knew about the coffee house that had bands or the little pub on campus that had bands and they’d tell me about it and help me get gigs.  And some of those gigs actually would pay a little money so some expenses would be covered. So that would help get the touring going. If I got a decent college gig I could build other shows around that.  Obviously it’s great to break even and not lose money.  But I’ve had my fair share of all three scenarios where I’ve lost money, broken even or made a little money.

MUSICIAN COACHING: How have you been sustaining yourself as an artist?  You run a studio and do a lot of session work.  At what point did you realize you had to diversify your skill set in order to exist?

JJA: I was in bands and I had day jobs.  I was always getting fired because if I had a gig I would blow off work or try to get out of it. So I would actually lose my jobs a lot.  Really, it was just sort of luck that I bumped into a high school friend who worked at a company that did music for commercials – jingles, etc. – and she asked me to bring my band in to do a Diet Coke commercial.  It got picked up and, and it was before it was sort of hip to have your songs in commercials.  And we didn’t do one of our songs, we did their Diet Coke jingle.  And all of a sudden, I saw there was a potential to make money with that.  And then also just by having a studio – it doesn’t have to be Avatar – it can be a project studio with decent equipment.  I was trained by a record producer – a guy named Mike Thorne – he produced Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.”  I worked for him for three years (that was actually one job I didn’t get fired from).  But I was actually working in the recording studio every day.  So learning from that I was able to start a little studio of my own. People would come in and bring in song demos and I would do a whole arrangement for them – soups to nuts.  I still do a lot of that, actually.  And then that led to other production work with artists and then a lot of co-writing that led to a lot of music licensing.  It’s a very good avenue to start generating revenue.  But then there’s always that fine line of if you’re an artist, there’s also that line you cross where you become a “jobber.”  All you’re doing is work for hire.  It’s not a bad thing, but it’s just that if you also want to be an artist, you have to find that balance between the two.

MUSICIAN COACHING: I’ve known a lot of people who have really done the cover circuit or the work for hire and then just never got around to doing the stuff that drew them to it in the first place.

JJA: The key is the writing.   You have to write every day.  Of course, I’m not perfect, I don’t write every day.  But I write something almost every day.  The book to get is the book by Stephen Pressfield called “The War of Art.”  If you are a songwriter – if that’s what you do, or a composer – that book could be really helpful for you in becoming disciplined to write every day.  And that can include all sorts of avenues – songs for yourself, for your band, could be for stuff for television, commercials, could be stuff for other artists.

MUSICIAN COACHING: What kind of impact have all these co-writes, work for hire and session gigs had on your personal art?

JJA: Mostly positive in that I’ve met amazing creative people through doing that.  Touring is also a doubled-edged sword as well.  It can be great to get paid and tour and make a little money, and then meet other musicians and play great songs.  The downside is if you’re an artist you’re taking time away from your own goals as an artist.  Balance is something I’m always trying to maintain.

MUSICIAN COACHING: You’ve had a string of successes getting your individual music as an artist placed in commercials and films, etc.  Tell me about that hustle.  What do you do right that you see other people NOT doing?

JJA: I think the key is you don’t wait around for other people to make connections for you. You go out and try to make them yourself.  For example, I’ve had music placed on Fox television shows, indie films – these are from connections actually I went and met in person with the people at Fox TV in Los Angeles.

MUSICIAN COACHING: How did you get in the door?

JJA: Well, it was interesting.  That came from a place I didn’t expect.  I worked with a guy who produced a couple of my albums named Stephen Lironi who’s possibly best known in the States for producing Hanson, their first album.  But he’s also produced a ton of other stuff.  I had a list of music executives at television companies. I sent cold e-mails and sent packages and just by following up via e-mail the woman at Fox recognized his name and said, “I used to work with him when I worked at Polydor.”  Also, I was going to be in L.A. because I was playing at a Triple A radio showcase in Palm Springs, and I flew my band out.  I was going to be out there anyway and I killed two birds with one stone.

MUSICIAN COACHING: I guess a lot of that had to do with the marketing materials and how you associated your name with your friend’s.

JJA: Yes.  You have to spell it out for people.  You can’t wait until you get them on the phone to tell them all the great stuff you’re doing.  You basically get one shot in front of most people.  These days that’s usually an e-mail or some sort of Web site.  It’s all got to be right in one place, telling people everything you’ve done.  And these things compound each other as your career goes on.  For me, I had a friend that was crazy about this one song that ended up being my single in England that came out on Universal. She hounded this friend of hers that was a manager to come see me  play, and he reluctantly took me on, and then over time, we actually developed a very good relationship.  He was able to use a lot of his strategic partnerships to garner me quite a few valuable thing for my career.  For example, I got sponsored by Budweiser for a year for touring, and they gave me $10,000 a year for two years towards the road. One request they had was that they had this Budweiser guitar, and they requested that we play it one song per show.  I thought this thing was hideous.  It was one of the ugliest guitars I’ve ever seen. So I made my guitar player play it for one song every show.  The point being, again, my friend who hustled to get me this manager believed in me because what I was doing was real and she could get behind it.  It comes down to the quality of music, which comes down to your work ethic.  Are you writing every day?  Are you listening to songwriters, etc. who have more experience than you?  You don’t have to agree with everything they say, but are you getting them to help you, either through a co-write or just feedback?

This manager was also able to use relationships he had from working at record labels.  As an indie artist, he really pushed for me very hard. He got me on “Last Call” with Carson Daley.  Once I got that and had that to show people, there’s nothing more valuable than television. People in my experience view you with a different sort of legitimacy if you are on television.  There may be bands that were way better and more deserving than my band at the time, but we got there.  And then it’s over very quick.  You can’t rest on your laurels forever. It has to be the next thing too.

MUSICIAN COACHING: Tell me about how you got signed to Universal?

JJA: Again, I had a chance meeting with an English guy who was a record executive and manager.  I met him on a beach.

MUSICIAN COACHING: You’re really not afraid to talk to anyone, are you?

JJA: Well, there you go.  I always think about if I hadn’t because I actually didn’t really want to talk to this guy.  I think we were actually put together on this boat, and it was sort of awkward and no one knew each other and no one really wanted to talk.  But once the ice was a little broken, it turned out to be one of the most fortunate meetings I probably had.  We got to know each other a little bit, and then I followed up with him (another key thing), but I didn’t hound him either.  But eventually it was the music that drew him in.  I’ll tell you one key thing I did – I never offered to play my music for him; I waited for him to ask.  And in certain cases – in this case – that was the right thing to do.  Because if you put yourself in the place of someone who is a record executive, how many people are coming at them daily?  I just knew that I had this guy – he’s on a beach – I can get to know him a little bit.  It ended up being a very fortunate thing.  He took me on as a manager, he got me sort of a small publishing situation with Universal and then that led to him taking me to a label that was distributed by Universal called All Around the World.  The idea was we took most of my second solo album and a little bit of the first and we made a new album.  And he got it released in the UK through All Around the World and then hired the best radio promotion team in the UK and brought the single to BBC Radio 2, which is probably the biggest listenership.  It took a while for it to get off the ground – maybe 6-8 months – and at the time I was living there.  Just as the single got played, the label All Around the World had some political shuffling. The people who had brought my album on left and just when it needed the push, unfortunately it didn’t get it.  The good news is, I kept the rights to my album in the United States territory, so I never gave that up . And I’ll get the album back in four years.

MUSICIAN COACHING: It seems to me that you spent a lot of time waiting.

JJA: They brought me over to do a couple showcases, some for BBC Radio and also some live stuff – I played at Ronnie Scott’s in London and the Borderline in London – and I was sort of traveling back and forth quite a bit, and then just through a certain set of circumstances basically I realized that actually relocating to London for a while would be a good idea.  To be there and with my management team, with the radio promotion team, with the label would get them fired up even more.  It was a career move and also just an adventure.  The thing is, it took a while for this to even get off the ground, or to even get started to get off the ground.  There’s so much.  I would wait around for a long time for the radio promotion team to call me up and say, “We have another showcase.”  A month would go by and I’d hear nothing.

MUSICIAN COACHING: What were you doing in the meantime?

JJA: I booked my own tours in England.  I put together my own backing band there.  I got busy.  All the while I was still writing music for television and commercials for here in the U.S., just from there.  These days you just e-mail the track in.  So I was keeping busy, but on the artist side, it was this great thing, because here was this label, and there was a promotion team and a management team and they were definitely excited about it, but it was also like starting over.  No one really knew me over there.  Fortunately I did fall in with a lot of good people, especially the musicians I met over there.  I was able to put together an amazing band.  I did the same thing over there that I did over here. I played at universities, I played at clubs, and I had a little bit of tour support, not a lot.  I tried to make it so it was at least a breaking even venture looking towards building towards a money-making venture.

MUSICIAN COACHING: This was done on your own with the occasional backing from your new team?

JJA: My management team wanted nothing to do with booking of clubs and universities and anything like that.  To be fair, my manager was always bringing booking agents down, and had the single taken off, we would’ve easily gotten a booking agent.  But because there was no booking agent, who’s going to do it?  Me.  I know that it’s a mistake not to be playing.  If I’m just waiting for my single to show up on the radio, I want to be playing and I want to be getting the word out.  And I was able to do that.  Of course I would’ve loved for my record to take off and the single to be a big success, but just because it didn’t doesn’t mean I didn’t get to do some amazing things. 

MUSICIAN COACHING: You made the best of the situation.

JJA: It wasn’t the intended outcome. But you can’t control the outcome.  What did I do?  Once I knew this record was dead, I immediately went into the studio with Steven Mulroney(?) and recorded the “Black and White Matinee” LP.  I didn’t wait.  What am I going to do, sit there and lick my wounds?  Once I got off my ass and quit feeling sorry for myself, it ended up being great.  I made one of my favorite recordings I’ve made.  It wasn’t a losing situation. It was actually a great situation in the end.

MUSICIAN COACHING: What would you do differently if you knew then what you know now?

JJA: There are a lot of things. I would worry a lot less about ego-related things:  how many people are in the audience on any given night; what bad review said what about my album; etc.  I definitely have a thick skin, but if I could’ve I would’ve developed it much sooner.  Hopefully someone will read this and realize that’s not the stuff that matters.  The stuff that matters is the creativity, the art, the songs, the recordings, the shows – that’s what’s important.  The rest is just all the stuff that happens to go along with it.

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If you want to check out JJ’s music or are in need of a gifted producer please check him out at JJ Appleton

Other than How do I get a record deal? or How can I License my music? the question that comes up the most is How do I make it in the music industry?”

“Making it” to me just means making a living playing, writing and recording music.

Top 5 Behaviors that will help you make it in the music business:

#1 PRACTICE & LEARN: It is ALWAYS about the music.  Practice your craft daily.  Learn everything you can about music theory and writing and reading music- this will make you much more employable than the dozens of hobbyists out there. Never ever stop learning and finding people to learn from.  This has to be your number one priority no matter what happens.  You have to keep finding new ways of challenging yourself because just keeping callouses on your fingers is not enough.  If you really hit a wall with your instrument – pick up another instrument or get better at home recording techniques.  Sometimes taking a break from your primary instrument can help but there is no reason to stop learning all together.

#2 NETWORK – seek out and befriend people who make a living making music be they session players, band members, music executives (at labels, publishers, management companies or booking agents) or producer / engineers… The music business is all about your talent and who you know. In many cases people can get away with less talent if they know the right people and can convince them to participate in their projects.  Find conversation currency with these people and a way you can collaborate with as many people as possible even if it is just throwing networking events.  A note about “conversation currency” – talking exclusively about yourself and how you want to be a star could put Sominex out of business – stop it already.

#3 PLAY AND RECORD OFTEN. Play live, get basic home recording gear so you can preserve your ideas and share them with other people. Join a band or two – co-write with anyone and everyone who will let you. Start simple with open mic nights and work your way up. Meet and keep in contact with everyone who is doing what you want to do.  Your songs and recordings are like viruses – make sure you have lots of them out there and have the help of people with a vested interest in making them get heard.  The best way to do that is to collaborate.

#4 BE PROFESSIONAL. The music business if full of flakes. Don’t be a dude, there’s a million dudes out there. Be a man.  (please replace Dude with Chick and Man with Woman if this applies to you).  Do you know why Spinal Tap is so F*cking hysterical?  Because it’s based on too much truth.  Start by being punctual.  More than just punctual make sure you are paying attention – it’s your career!  Ask questions rather than nodding your head as if you already know and remember the people you are dealing with when booking shows or making records or whatever are making a living in music too so be considerate of them and their time.

#5 LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS. Look at and learn all of the ways that money is made in the music business. A good starting point is Donald Passman’s “all you need to know about the music business” – if you understand where the money comes from in the music business it will be much harder for people to take advantage of you…and they will try.  To this end- find knowledgeable people you trust and surround yourself with them.  Nothing is more terrifying than things we are vague about.

This last one doesn’t need to be advanced accounting either.  Take control of your financial life.  Keep receipts for everything and make a spreadsheet of everything you spend (I do this – it has saved me lots of $$$).  Most people find they are spending too much in some areas and not enough in others.  I once advised someone to do this who realized after three months of record keeping that he spent more on beer than he did on his career…  He is much farther along in his career now.
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Got other practical suggestions for me or your peers about how to make it?  I’d love to hear from you.

I recently sat down with my friend Ron Bienstock of Bienstock & Michael, P.C. to talk about getting a music business off of the ground from a legal point of view.  Ron is a very experienced entertainment lawyer who has worked with Billy Joel, Simple Plan, Dream Theater, the Goo Goo dolls and numerous instrument and music equipment manufacturers.  Ron is also one of the more talented bass players I have ever met and still plays out regularly.

Musician Coaching:

So Ron, I wanted to ask you what the most important things for a band to do to set up their business from a legal perspective.  Is it registering their songs?  Is it registering with a Performance Royalties organization like ASCAP or BMI?  What is it that artists should be doing to make sure their businesses are in order from a legal standpoint?

Ron:

I think I may have a different perspective on this than others but I think that the most important thing is the name.  Obviously, if it is a band’s name that we are discussing it is a different issue than a surname.  If you are “Matt Schneckman” there may not be a whole lot of Matt Schneckman’s competing with you.  If however you are “the righteous dudes” you may not be able to use that name and the value and goodwill you create in the name is everything that you are in the marketplace.  Try to pick a name that you can own, exploit and remember.  There have been some very interesting names that are seven and eight words long that might not be the easiest to remember.

Musician Coaching:

How do you go about ensuring that you can get rights to a name?

Ron:

Trademark searches by a professional, most likely a law firm.  I hope people wouldn’t use any of the online services.  They tend not to have lawyers working there.  There is usually a gal named Sue who you call who says “that’s cool” but that’s not always going to be a real search.  You need to make sure the name is clear in a particular classification- it is kind of sophisticated now.  Most of the artists I deal with aren’t really clear about what the international classes mean.  Most bands I would say would want to clear a name in International class 41 which is live entertainment services.

Musician Coaching:

What should that trademark search and clearance cost?

Ron:

It shouldn’t be more than $500-$600 and it should come with a written report to back that up, hopefully written by an attorney.  An attorney will give you advice as to whether the name is open and the second that it is clear you should apply for the trademark.  If you are doing it on your own it will cost you no less than $325 because that is the fee that the government charges.  Try to use the law firm that did the search (if you like them) because they will be familiar with your application process.  So making sure the name is usable and secure would be my first piece of advice…

Another important tip – No you can’t send an undershirt to yourself in the mail with your band name printed on it in Sharpie and say that it is poor man’s trademark, that does not exist…  This is a common discussion I have.

Musician Coaching:

(I say nothing but distinctly remember trying this trick with my band demos at age 19.  I then find myself wondering how Ron went from an earlier conversation about the throw on one of his bass cabinets, to how his swimming was the weakest part of his Triathlon to the current conversation about music law so seamlessly.  It all added up to me thinking that if there are lots of people out there as smart and multi-talented as Ron that perhaps I should be somewhere with a name tag and a paper hat helping people from behind a shiny glass counter, struggling to fetch them their desired items and failing to give them correct change)

Ron:

There is no such thing as poor man’s trademark.  There is no such thing as poor man’s anything.  There’s just uninformed person’s something…

Musician Coaching:

(Maybe they will eventually let me play with the French fry machine at my new gig)

Ron:

Another big issue is not, surprisingly, the registration of your copyrights.  I think most Americans are fascinated by the concept of copyright infringement for all the wrong reasons.  I always say if someone very well known had access to your material (which is the key part of copyright infringement) and they produced a substantially similar composition and made money with it- it would be the greatest thing that ever happened to you but these are uncommon events.

Most people don’t know that their work is already copy written when it is in fixed form under our copyright act.  So again, the sending of the disc to yourself in the mail is…

Musician Coaching:

A waste of postage.

Ron:

Yes.  So, my second issue is what entity will you be if you are group?

I don’t care what genre you are in which is another common mistake actually.  People often say something like “Oh, we are a country band so it’s not the same as being a rock band.”  My response is always that sarcastic “Really?”

Musician Coaching:

It is the same in terms of a trademark I take it…

Ron:

It is in terms of your trademark and in terms of your corporate structure…  I don’t care what the genre is.  It doesn’t matter if you are death metal klezmer.  You are performing, you are earning and you will have taxes.  You don’t want to be a sole proprietorship and you don’t want to be individuals because then you are a partnership by default.   But you do really want to establish an entity because the entity will own the trademark.

Musician Coaching:

So what entity do you recommend for a band?

Ron:

Well, because of the state of tax issues in many states we are leaning towards LLC almost all the time.  However with an LLC you need an operating agreement.  So an LLC costs you a bit more.  Some states will require you to pay for the publication of the LLC.

Musician Coaching:

Oh, and those are pricey in New York, I did mine about a year ago.

Ron:

Yea, that can be pricey.  So contrary to the books that you may read- there is no shortcut.  So after your entity you will need your intra band agreement, the agreement amongst the band members.  Whether it’s two members or nine members (the later is when you desperately need it) it has to be established so you can understand the relationships between one another, who comes and goes and what happens…  This way I don’t get letters from the real estate attorney in Poughkeepsie who thinks it’s kind of cool that he’s in the rock world for the moment.  You can avoid all of these issues.  Keeping your band together should be a priority.

Then we can talk about copyright registration, which is fine, we can get to it and it’s not that difficult.  Anyone can do it.  It’s all online at LOC.gov You probably don’t need to have a legal expense there.

After those things are in order then you should select a performance royalty organization (ASCAP, BMI, SEASAC).  You have to register as a writer AND as a publisher.  And once all of these things (the name, the entity, the intra band agreement and affiliating with a Performance Royalties Organization) are in place you just have to organize yourself into a functioning music business entity.  From there we can talk about management and agency contracts and synchronization licenses etc but we are now ready to go.  You will have properly named and functioning publishing company, you are set up as a writer with the performance royalties organizations that will collect on your behalf…

Musician Coaching:

In your experience is there any difference between the Performance Royalties organizations?  To me it has always seemed like ASCAP and BMI were like Coke and Pepsi while SEASAC was more liking the refreshing taste of RC Cola and by that I mean that by pure volume BMI and ASCAP dominate the marketplace.  In your experience is there any tangible difference between them?  Is there a certain type of artist that should be on one PRO vs. another or does it come down to personal relationships…

Ron:

The differences are who you feel comfortable with.  Have you met someone there you like?  I hope they will be there for a bit… (***For those really new to music – music companies go through employees like J-Lo goes through husbands)

There are wonderful people working at all three organizations who really care.  Meet all three and decide who you like.  Yes, on sheer volume ASCAP and BMI probably have some dominant structure but there are devoted people at all three places…  Find someone you like and go with them.  If you are lucky enough that you performance royalty income is substantial you will have your choice to opt out if it doesn’t work with one and you can go to another.  In my experience, I have friends at all three and I think they all care and want to do right by people.

Musician Coaching:

When is the time to sign up for performer royalties which seems to have some up more in the digital age when is it time to go to SoundExchange and make sure you are in the phone book there so to speak.

Ron:

When my firm gets people signs people up with the PROs we do sound exchange right then and there.  We also do AARC (Aliance of Artists and Recording Companies) and anybody else, anywhere or anytime who can get a dollar for you.

Musician Coaching:

What does AARC do?

Ron:

AARC collects the blank tape and blank disc and other initiatives passed in congress over the last fifteen years.  It is a vast diminishing income stream but there are royalties out there.  There are DART (Digital Audio Recording Technology) royalties and AARC also has rental, people rent CDs and they pay various places for that rental value and that passes it’s way down to an artist as well.  I will take any income I can to support the artist.

Lastly, and I do not mean this in a self serving way but go speak to an experienced entertainment lawyer or an experienced entertainment executive who understands how the business works and make that you first stop.  Understand the income streams and how they flow.  It will be the wisest investment you will ever make.

Musician Coaching:

Are there books you would recommend?

Ron:

Books are great but my problem with books is it is almost impossible to keep current in this business, it is so difficult to be up to the minute and you have to be.  The deal I am working on today is different from the deal I was working on two weeks ago.  I will say this – just because it’s written online doesn’t mean it’s true and be wary of information from uncle Fred who had a deal with a small indie label in 1984 – his information is out of date.  And, by the way, Uncle Fred may have been wrong all along.

Careers don’t always stay up.   There are obstacles, there are down times and you have to prepare for them.  You have to know how to prepare the band for a down.  Bands want to see a high velocity upwards trajectory but that’s not going to happen all the time.

Musician Coaching:

So switching gears just quickly – you’ve been a bass player for thirty-seven years. Knowing what you know now is there anything you would do differently?

Ron:

I was very lucky in that I played with recording acts and well known acts and got to play on some great records and to some great touring back in the days when we flew mostly…(Laughs) rather than seventy-eight days straight in a van (I can’t help but notice the look on his face is more empathetic than “I’m so lucky”) While that was great what was missing for me was the opportunity to produce.  I think I would have enjoyed that.  It did not exist then.  There was no such thing as a home studio unless your home was the size of the Ponderosa.  So take advantage in every way of the home recording possibilities as a musician.  Music for Film, music for Television, music for plays, co-writes…you have an idea and your buddy is in the studio with you- write and record the song.  You could record it and master it at the end of the day and have it up on a website the next morning.  These are things that didn’t exist and they are what makes the music business exciting and wonderful now.  With all of this comes the hefty responsibility of admitting the things you can’t do.  Can you really produce yourself well?  Most musicians will not admit they can’t.

Musician Coaching:

Thanks for your time Ron…

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If you are in need of an entertainment lawyer I highly recommend you take a look at Ron Bienstock or the lawyers at his firm Bienstock & Michael.

How do I get a record deal?
How do I get my band signed?

It was 1996 or 1997 and I was on a panel at the Burlington Music Conference sitting next to Trey Anastasio from Phish and several other musicians and music executives talking about the music business. Several of these questions were asked and we answered to the best of our ability.

It is now 2009 and after all that has changed in the music business I am still confronted with the same exact questions- and I’m not alone!

The Local Search volume for “Get a Record Deal” in Google for the month of July 2009 according to Google AdWords was 14,800. The Local search volume in the same month for:

“get better shows”
“license my music”
“get my music heard”
“How to book a tour”
“how to get more fans”

was (drumroll) “Not enough data” Meaning these are not popular topics to search for.

People, we are asking the wrong questions. I have said it before and I will say it again the music business is much more about M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) than it is A&R (Artists & Repertoire). This means that labels know that the votes of music consumers mean more than any single executive’s opinion.

I’m not saying it doesn’t happen that people get signed off a random demo sent to an A&R executive (it still happens but is more and more rare), I’m not saying you shouldn’t reach out to music industry people and get feedback from them but what I am saying is that you should never stop improving your music and your products and building a fan base on your own. You have to start thinking of yourself, your band and your brand as a start-up company. It is much easier to raise money from a Venture Capitalist or an Angel when you have a business that is making money and demonstrating growth rather than a blueprint of something that might work.

It isn’t easy but it can be done… People are building their music brands right now. Find out who they are and learn from them…  And if you do it right you might be able to tell a label, “thanks, but no thanks”…